I'm too sexy for my cat, too sexy for my cat...how about that

[Shizuma]

1. in what area is critique to be sought?[

Composition and framing, also any other point you may find helpful in helping me make better photos

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
To showcase a humorous spontaneous pose of a cat ("sexy" pose)


3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Cat was shot in the shade on a noonday. I noticed this kitty sprawled in an unusual way and decided to make the most of it.


4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
I like the thin DOF. I am sure there are areas for improvement and humbly receive any instruction from sempai and sensei of Clubsnap

 

[TANHK]

Hi Shizuma,

I am just a beginner, so take my comment with a pinch of salt. Perhaps the framing can be tighter, particularly the 'empty' space on the left and bottom cropped by half. And the cat head more to the left instead of center of the frame.
Nice picture all the same.
Cheers

 

[Shizuma]

Hi Shizuma,

I am just a beginner, so take my comment with a pinch of salt. Perhaps the framing can be tighter, particularly the 'empty' space on the left and bottom cropped by half. And the cat head more to the left instead of center of the frame.
Nice picture all the same.
Cheers

Thank you for your constructive critique

 

[zaren]

i think the space around the cat is fine....but the clash of colours in the background is not attractive. i would be tempted to convert this to B&W and increase the contrast of the image as well as correct for backlighting.

 

[Shizuma]

i think the space around the cat is fine....but the clash of colours in the background is not attractive. i would be tempted to convert this to B&W and increase the contrast of the image as well as correct for backlighting.

Thank you. It's a great idea
The subject was already almost black and white anyway so not much information loss in conversion

 

[Nikoras]

Awesome pic. Not sure if my M4/3 can take this.

Personally I like the framing, bokeh and the colors, but the problem with shooting subjects with lights coming from their back is that they will look darker. I'd probably point my flash at the cat head to make it lighter and add more details, but it will probably scratch me or sth. :bsmilie:

In this pic, I only brightened the head and it's eyes.

 

[Shizuma]

Thank you for your constructive critique. Even spot metering I am not hitting correct exposure in camera...

This image was completely unedited and I guess one edit needed is to brighten up the cat

 

[Nikoras]

It's not the metering problem. If you increase the exposure, the background would be washed out. What you need to do is to use your flash as fill light at the same exposure. It will look even better if you use off camera flash/ speedlite. Maybe even a reflector will work well. Using photoshop is last resort.

 

[Shizuma]

It's not the metering problem. If you increase the exposure, the background would be washed out. What you need to do is to use your flash as fill light at the same exposure. It will look even better if you use off camera flash/ speedlite. Maybe even a reflector will work well. Using photoshop is last resort.

Thank you for your suggestions. I shot this in ambient light . Cats and small furry animals are not particularly fond of flash photography.

I have tried a small DIY soft box with kitty but they ran away.

Maybe blown out background is more acceptable since it doesn't have much useful information anyway.

 

[thoongeng]

Thank you for your suggestions. I shot this in ambient light . Cats and small furry animals are not particularly fond of flash photography.

I have tried a small DIY soft box with kitty but they ran away.

Maybe blown out background is more acceptable since it doesn't have much useful information anyway.

Yup sometimes you really have to edit the photo to make it look more like what the eye sees, especially in high dynamic range situation like yours. If you overexpose till the whole background is blown it would be a high key image and I guess it should be ok (just no environmental context). However if just some parts blown like in the background on the left then it will be a distraction.

Btw you mentioned the photo is unedited... but I feel the out-of-focus area looks a bit unreal... the brown line on the ledge is blur at the area when the plane is in focus... hmmm just a thought hehe....

Thanks for sharing

 

[Nikoras]

Thank you for your suggestions. I shot this in ambient light . Cats and small furry animals are not particularly fond of flash photography.

I have tried a small DIY soft box with kitty but they ran away.

Maybe blown out background is more acceptable since it doesn't have much useful information anyway.

If you increase the exposure and concentrate only on the cat's exposure, it will look like:

I don't shoot much cats, only sometimes when I travel so that's your call on whether to use flash or not.
Perhaps using photoshop will be good for you to simulate flash.
And knowing that you will definitely use Photoshop, it's better to take in RAW format so you won't lose much details when you brighten the subjects.

 

[Shizuma]

Yup sometimes you really have to edit the photo to make it look more like what the eye sees, especially in high dynamic range situation like yours. If you overexpose till the whole background is blown it would be a high key image and I guess it should be ok (just no environmental context). However if just some parts blown like in the background on the left then it will be a distraction.

Btw you mentioned the photo is unedited... but I feel the out-of-focus area looks a bit unreal... the brown line on the ledge is blur at the area when the plane is in focus... hmmm just a thought hehe....

Thanks for sharing

I am uncomfortable with the bokeh characteristics of that lenses as well. (you can see this picture at bokeh Monster thread where I voice my discomfort )

As a side note this was shot on a Pentax 55/2 Adapted to a canon.

The only edit was crop which I don't really consider a true edit action.


Thanks for dropping by.

 

[raptor84]

I think besides the suggested exposure and contrast suggestions, id personally go with a closer crop since most of the empty space on the left does not really add to the image. Also an interesting composition will be to rotate the image 90deg clockwise so it looks like the cat is resitng on one elbow giving that "bedroom eyes" look

 

[Shizuma]

that's literally a fresh angle and a paradigm shift. thanks for the idea